One OK Rock, one of Japan’s biggest rock bands just wrapped up its European tour, which wasn’t just another EU tour, but also a very important landmark for them. The band started out in 2005, got pretty popular in a couple of years and soon, their fame spread overseas as well, mostly within the then thriving international J-Rock community. Back in those days bigger Japanese labels and agencies were not at all supportive of their acts going on international tours (“why should they embark on such perilous journeys, when the domestic music market is big enough for everyone!?” – they wondered), but One OK Rock was amongst the first to say, “well, screw it, we are doing it anyways”. And it worked: even during their first EU tour in 2013 some of the shows were sold out. Of course back in those days they played at relatively small venues, but they started to do both EU and US tours on a regular basis, slowly moving to bigger and bigger places. Last year was a turning point, as following their previous club tours in Europe it was the first time they did arena level gigs. It was just a test run of sorts, with only three stops, but it worked out quite well and this time they leveled up and embarked on a full-fledged arena tour with 15 shows. The tour final took place in Budapest and as we learned throughout the night, it came with a couple of unexpected extras.

Them targeting the international market not only meant them touring and signing deals with labels around the world, but also brought about a significant change in their sound that became more and more noticeable over the years. Their early material had a more powerful alternative rock and sometimes almost post-hardcore infused sound, while on their later material, they moved towards a much smoother, more melodic sort of music, more reminiscent of what you would expect to hear on a US college rock radio. And while some of their older fans were kind of displeased with this change, the new albums brought on board more than enough new fans for the band to keep growing.

However even though this more radio friendly sound became their main direction by now, occasionally they still drop punchier songs, and on Detox, their latest album, released this February, one of the best examples of this was C.U.R.I.O.S.I.T.Y., which also featured two guests, Paledusk, a band from Fukuoka and an Okinawan rapper called Chico Carlito. And while after this it was kind of logical to get Paledusk to support them during the tour (especially as recently Paledusk also started to do shows overseas and the band’s guitarist, Dai Dai participated as producer and songwriter on several songs on Detox), but I was still surprised when they were actually announced as guests. Because their music is as different from One OK Rock as possible. And it isn’t just that their songs are not at all what you would call smooth and melodic, but they are a band that even threw traditional song structure out the window, jumping headfirst into complete genre-bending chaos, where it is completely normal when metalcore turns into drum’n’bass, then hip-hop, then after a punk and breakcore detour we arrive to a pop-rock chorus and an arena rock inspired guitar solo. They are npredictable madness at its very best!

They are amongst the most original and interesting bands to come out of Japan in recent years and while their tracks (that need three or four listens until you even really start to get what’s going on) already work great in their studio versions, I was pretty sure that, if possible, they are even more overwhelming when played live. And I was not disappointed the slightest. They are officially a four-piece, with a support bassist named John playing with them during their concert, but the stage was clearly dominated by their singer, the hyperactive Kaito and the aforementioned Dai Dai, who was sporting yellow & black checked pants and was doing jump spin-kicks all the time. They went thru a pretty nice, approx. 40 minutes selection of their tracks, including Slay!!, a personal favorite (find the setlists below the gallery), and while it was really fun to watch them, but it was equally entertaining to watch the audience. Although everyone knew Paledusk will be the support, I am sure there were a lot of people who did not check them out beforehand and while some of them clearly got into the vibe and had a great time, others were very obviously shocked and puzzled by what was going on onstage. But well, it is understandable, it takes a while to process when every track sounds like it was put together from the bits and pieces of six or so other songs. (And they sound like that for a good reason, as Dai Dai revealed in the interview we did before the show… soon to be published here!). Their closing track was the latest single cut, Hugs, which is a perfect summary of what Paledusk is all about, and it also served as a nice transition to what was coming up next with its arc from complete chaos to a melodic, sing-along ending.

After the usual quick changeover and a rather awkward and confusing animated intro, One OK Rock took the stage to start its second show in Budapest. The up till this one and only time they played here was back in 2019, in a venue with an approx. 600-700 capacity, that was sold out within hours (gallery + live report here). So even then it was quite obvious that they could attract a much bigger audience, but still, it was quite a jump from 600+ to the approx. 4000-5000 people (this just being my wild guess) we had at this show. They started out with Puppets Can’t Control You from their latest album, but followed it up with one of their classics, The Beginning, which, based on the setlists from the tour’s previous stops was supposed to be the one and only old track played. We were in for a surprise tho, but more about that later. From then on, the concert was a typical album release show with them playing almost every song off Detox with a couple of tracks thrown in from the previous couple of albums. And while, for me at least, most of their newer songs are somewhat overly polished on the album, most worked much better live, especially along with the absolutely spectacular lights, the band’s powerful stage presence, and the huge LED walls, which occasionally boosted the live feed with some effects and animations.

The first twist came with C.U.R.I.O.S.I.T.Y., where, as expected, the members of Paledusk also appeared on stage, but it was not only them joining One OK Rock… but also Chico Carlito himself! It turned out that the rapper was brought to Europe all the way from Japan for the last two stops of the tour, while at the previous concerts guitarist Toru was taking care of the song’s rap parts. This joint track was the absolute highlight of the show, an amazing explosion of pure energy. And at this point I started to get a bit suspicious about what I became increasingly certain of by the end of the concert: that there was a pretty good chance that this tour final would eventually become the band’s next concert film. By that time I already noticed that huge cameras were line up at front of the stage, but of course this could have simply been because of the LED screen’s live feed. But then came this surprising guest appearance (for which the previous Prague concert could have been a rehearsal-of-sorts), and then, at the very end, the fact that while the encore had been the same two songs throughout the whole, here they added another bonus one: Kanzen Kankaku Dreamer, the band’s first hit song, all the way back from 2010. They don’t play that song much anymore, except for some very special occasions and while the closing night of their first major EU arena tour is a pretty big event in itself, together with the other “suspicious” signs, I think there is a good chance that the real reason they included that one was because it could be a nice little closing for a possible DVD / Blu-ray release.

All in all, while One OK Rock’s change of direction (apart from a few excellent exceptions) doesn’t necessarily resonate with me much, this concert absolutely didn’t disappoint and proved that the band has absolutely grown up to its role as an arena headliner. Both in professionalism and in the size of their audience. And speaking of the audience: the best proof of them having a very dedicated fan base is that apparently a lot of people came from abroad to see them here and some even traveled all the way from Japan for the tour. And also, the local Japanese community was also represented in large numbers, which actually is no wonder, because it must have been a very special experience for them that one of the biggest bands from their home was playing an arena show in faraway Budapest.

Full gallery with twice this many photos is available on my photography Facebook page.

Setlists

Paledusk

Intro Jam
Area PD
Super Pale Horse
Black Ice
SLAY!!
NO!
Happy Talk
Q2
Rumble
HUGs

One OK Rock

Puppets Can’t Control You
The Beginning
Save Yourself
NASTY
Renegades
Party’s Over
Tiny Pieces
Make It Out Alive
C.U.R.I.O.S.I.T.Y. feat. Paledusk & Chico Carlito
Dystopia
Delusion:All
Stand Out Fit In
Tropical Therapy
The Pilot </3

Encore:
+Matter
We Are
Kanzen Kankaku Dreamer